After getting kicked to the curb by incoming Mayor Greg Nickels, 14-year Department of Neighborhoods Director Jim Diers had to keep his head up and move on. Hundreds of people around Seattle who adore him (and criticized the mayor for firing Diers) were expecting Diers to strike back, maybe by running for office. While Diers is not currently running for office, he did begin a new job this month that's perfectly suited to his community organizing talents--and is also a slight snub at the mayor.
Diers is the new interim executive director of the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA), an ambitious neighborhood group in West Seattle (Nickels' hood) that focuses on community development through small businesses and affordable housing.
"I never thought there'd be a job I'd enjoy more than the Department of Neighborhoods, and there probably won't be," says Diers, 49. "But here I can really roll up my sleeves and touch different projects."
His voice mail isn't even set up yet, but Diers has already plunged into his work. Over the next year--while the regular executive director travels around the world--Diers will focus on raising money for three major DNDA projects.
His extensive contacts, made throughout his years at the city's Neighborhoods office, should make fundraising easier. And the projects that need funding are promising--things like converting an abandoned elementary school into artist and community group space, and a project that builds a food bank with attached affordable housing.
Even though he's now working across the West Seattle Bridge from his old downtown office, he still keeps in touch with Department of Neighborhoods staffers. And that might cause problems with his new job. If the DNDA needs to apply for a city Neighborhood Matching Grant--a program Diers helped create and administer--he can't do the paperwork. It would be a conflict of interest.
But Diers isn't too worried about how his former job will affect this new one. "I don't think it will be an issue," he says. "I met with [new Neighborhoods head] Yvonne Sanchez as soon as she was appointed, and I try to be whatever support I can be over there."
